“Interacting with Indian engineers abroad, I learned that they cannot socialise and adapt to different cultures as well as they should be able to, because there is a huge gap in their knowledge of cultural binders such as art and films and often a lack of ability to communicate as well,” says Parag Diwan, founder and chancellor of GLIU. “So we have made it compulsory for tech and management students to take at least eight courses in liberal arts subjects such as art appreciation and film appreciation throughout the four-year course tenure.” There’s a realisation that the ‘one size fits all’ approach doesn’t work anymore, says educational entrepreneur Sudhanshu Sinhal, founder of the Sinhal coaching classes. “Students too want their learning experience to fit their lifestyle; it must be relevant, collaborative, personalised, engaging, and accessible.” For private universities, this kind of innovation on campus is easier because they are not governed by authorities that resist change, adds Dhiraj Mathur, partner (Education) at PwC India. “They also have better interaction with industry and are funded well, so they are able to provide personalised, tailor-made courses — at a cost, of course.” For students who can afford it, this is good news. Parth Shah, 23, for instance, says he picked mechatronics at TeamLease because he was excited by the content and wants a career in automation engineering. “I like the fact that the university has an industry-first approach to teaching,” he adds. “You can opt to work as an apprentice through the entire duration of the course. I opted for a six-month long internship in place of Semester 5, where I applied what I had learned in my first four semesters.”